Who Are the Personal Support Workers Caring for our Loved Ones?

In a study covering long term care homes in the prairie provinces, it was found that personal support workers (PSW's) suffer both high burnout and high job efficacy. These finding are consistent across North America. We can offer this group the help and support they need through provincial and federal interventions. Provincial mandatory registries in every province would regulate educational minimum requirements and migration across the provinces. Additional public funding aimed at long term care would assist in the ongoing training and education for PSW's. Canada-wide initiatives that will determine minimum staffing and education standards.

"Their reported job efficacy – the sense that their work is meaningful and has purpose – is unusually high. This finding is consistent with discussions of intrinsic rewards in the direct care workforce. Burnout presents a threat to staff and has workplace characteristics such as frequent exposure to dementia related responsive behaviours, high workload, high acuity of residents, and little time to perform tasks for residents, and environmental factors that are reported to precipitate burnout."